In an interview to 바카라, actor-filmmaker Aparna Sen shares her views on some of the fast-paced developments unfolding in West Bengal's polity.
Actor-filmmaker Aparna Sen has been an active and vocal member of Bengal라이브 바카라 civil society. In an interview with Pranay Sharma, the acclaimed director shared her views on some of the fast-paced developments unfolding in the state라이브 바카라 polity. Excerpts:
Recent developments in Bengal show the state has been polarized on communal lines?바카라 웹사이트 Are you worried?
Very worried. West Bengal, like Kerala, was one of the few states where we had practically no바카라 웹사이트communal바카라 웹사이트problems. The Left Front government, for all its바카라 웹사이트faults, contained바카라 웹사이트communal flare-ups very quickly. But after 2011, the appeasement of the바카라 웹사이트minorities by TMC바카라 웹사이트has divided the바카라 웹사이트state along communal lines, and the opposition has been adding바카라 웹사이트fuel to바카라 웹사이트that fire very successfully to destabilize the state further.
To outsiders Bengal always had the image of a liberal-secular state. But does the recent polarization indicate such credentials lacked deep-roots in the society?
Perhaps. Actually, ever since the Partition of India, there was바카라 웹사이트probably some hidden resentment among many Hindus that the Muslims had got a state of their own while the Hindus had not. However, the effects of the Bengal바카라 웹사이트Renaissance바카라 웹사이트and the Gandhian-Nehruvian바카라 웹사이트ideology were still very바카라 웹사이트strong among the바카라 웹사이트educated middle class who were, to a large바카라 웹사이트extent, responsible for바카라 웹사이트forming바카라 웹사이트public opinion.바카라 웹사이트Tagore's influence too, was a great unifier. But, with globalisation and the rise바카라 웹사이트of consumerism in the rest of India, those ideals came to be바카라 웹사이트gradually discredited. An unholy alliance of Hindu fundamentalism and consumerism had started which washed away remnants of the Tagore-Gandhi-Nehru ideals, and discarded them as outdated.
What is the situation now?
With the advent of the digital medium, the habit of reading slowly바카라 웹사이트disappeared from the younger generation. The majority of them no longer read history, and neither know nor care about the price at which India라이브 바카라 freedom was won, or about what바카라 웹사이트part Muslims played in it.바카라 웹사이트 A good many have been brainwashed into believing Savarkar was a hero and a great patriot, completely suppressing the fact that he had signed mercy petitions and a bond to the British to get out of Cellular Jail. Similarly, Gandhi is being portrayed as the person responsible for the Partition of India and Nathuram Godse is being hailed as a patriot! Sadly, with many of the Hindu citizens of Bengal, if you바카라 웹사이트scratch the surface, there is a deep-rooted mistrust and hatred of Muslims. Every Muslim has become a potential terrorist, even though lynching of Muslims has바카라 웹사이트not yet started in Bengal, thankfully! But all in all, the distrust of Muslims all over India reminds one of the way Blacks were once treated in USA!
The civil society is accused of failing to rise to the challenge posed by communal forces. Why did it fail?
To start with, the so-called civil society is confined to a very small number of people who are바카라 웹사이트essentially urban. They are바카라 웹사이트perceived as elitists who have no바카라 웹사이트connection with the grass roots. There are small groups, NGO-s mainly, working at trying to make a difference, but they바카라 웹사이트are hugely outnumbered by people who want economic바카라 웹사이트development at any price, even if it means that India becomes a Hindu Rashtra, not realising the inherent danger in that. A large number of students and a massive section of the바카라 웹사이트urban educated middle class have become pro BJP. The main reason for that is바카라 웹사이트because바카라 웹사이트they see no alternative. The TMC had come in with a huge popular바카라 웹사이트mandate after the 34-year rule of the Left Front was overturned. But, in spite of바카라 웹사이트having done some good work, the TMC failed to bring about changes the electorate of West Bengal expected.
Political violence and killings have become par for the course in Bengal. Why is there so little space for dissent?
The TMC worked hard at바카라 웹사이트eliminating all opposition from Bengal. So much so, that the Congress바카라 웹사이트and the Left바카라 웹사이트have become바카라 웹사이트practically non-existent. This is a great setback, because you always need a strong opposition to check the excesses of any ruling party.
As a commentator and artiste do you think dissent is essential for a society라이브 바카라 growth and development?바카라 웹사이트
Of course! Dissent, debate and freedom of expression are the바카라 웹사이트very pillars of democracy. Actually, the social media has been very vocal in its criticism of the ruling party, with바카라 웹사이트many people바카라 웹사이트airing their바카라 웹사이트views바카라 웹사이트on Facebook, even though the criticism is not always very constructive. But I doubt that TMC has a cell to actually monitor the social media comments, gauge바카라 웹사이트the mood of the people and put the feedback to effective use.
Do you think the civil society in Bengal should have played a pro-active role by staging protests and public demonstrations to condemn acts of violence that are being carried out with impunity in the state?
Some of us did protest against many of the wrongs of the ruling party from the start, but the number was not great. I think for quite a while, people were expecting the TMC to deliver on their pre-election promises. Ordinary people have their lives to lead and바카라 웹사이트their livelihoods바카라 웹사이트to pursue. It is only바카라 웹사이트when matters come to a head like they바카라 웹사이트did바카라 웹사이트with the strike of the junior doctors at NRS, that바카라 웹사이트the whole바카라 웹사이트state sits up and people바카라 웹사이트take to바카라 웹사이트the streets바카라 웹사이트in protest. An astonishingly large number of people marched바카라 웹사이트along with the doctors on 14th June to바카라 웹사이트express바카라 웹사이트their solidarity.
During Singur and Nandigram the civil society had taken the lead as the conscience-keeper of the Bengali society. Why was it silent in the past eight years?바카라 웹사이트
The atrocities at Singur바카라 웹사이트and Nandigram had shocked the civil society. The Shilpi Sanskritik Karmee Buddhijeebi Mancha was established in 2007바카라 웹사이트to support바카라 웹사이트the farmers in their movement against land grab in order to bring in big industry to West Bengal. Everyone recognized the need for industrialization in바카라 웹사이트Bengal, but not바카라 웹사이트at the바카라 웹사이트cost of taking away fertile agricultural land. The people who formed this Civil Society forum in support of the farmers were mostly leftist intellectuals.바카라 웹사이트 Sadly most of these towering figures have passed on. What is significant, is that not only the intelligentsia, but thousands of ordinary people took to the streets in a바카라 웹사이트protest march after the atrocities in Nandigram. The votes that went to the TMC, were votes against the Left Front, just as the votes바카라 웹사이트that went바카라 웹사이트to the BJP in 2019 were votes바카라 웹사이트against the TMC.
What is the state of the Society now?
The passing of Tarun Sanyal who was바카라 웹사이트the president of the Society,바카라 웹사이트and바카라 웹사이트many important members of바카라 웹사이트the advisory바카라 웹사이트board left the society in a vulnerable state. The Society바카라 웹사이트has lasted for eleven years바카라 웹사이트and is still바카라 웹사이트functional, protesting바카라 웹사이트against바카라 웹사이트the ruling party and in several other areas of wrong-doing. Sadly, these protests have not had the publicity they deserved, and in public perception, the Society has practically ceased to function.바카라 웹사이트
Many prominent personalities of the civil society had either joined politics or decided to join various government committees once the government in Bengal had changed in 2011. Did their credibility suffer because of this?
It certainly did. Unfortunately, these individuals바카라 웹사이트managed to바카라 웹사이트discredit as a whole the completely바카라 웹사이트non-partisan바카라 웹사이트Society by joining the ruling party. In public perception, the Civil Society was seen as opportunistic. Most people do not바카라 웹사이트know the facts behind what had happened.
The assault on junior doctors is another development that seemed to have divided Bengal. How do you see them panning out in the coming days and what steps must be taken to ensure they don’t recur in future?
Fortunately, the junior doctors had an interface with the CM in the presence of the press, and have been assured their demands for permanent police protection and improved infrastructure will be met. The attack on doctors is not new in West Bengal. It has been happening since the days of Congress rule, and doctors have always been vulnerable. Failure of infrastructure has also been a long-standing problem, and doctors have held strikes in the past as well. The longest strike by doctors in a government hospital happened in 1974 when Siddharth Shankar Roy was the CM and Ajit Panja was the Health Minister. The strike had lasted for 40 days. During Jyoti Basu라이브 바카라 tenure, the junior doctors had stopped working for 21 days in 1983 and for 9 days in 1991. What is shocking, is that nothing has changed in four decades. The only way of stopping the recurrence of such strikes in future, is for the CM to make good her promises.
A shorter, edited version of this appeared in print